The Arrogant Sons of Bitches
Formed in 1995, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches were a six-piece third wave ska/punk band from Baldwin, Long Island, New York. Biography In 1995, Jeff Rosenstock began playing with Joe Werfelman together and started The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. By 1996, the two had spent time writing and finding members for their band. At this time they recorded The Arrogant Sons of Bitches Demo Tape on tape but never released it. At this time they also began playing shows in their friends' basements and bedrooms. Patric Santiago and Chris Valentino joined the band and the Greatest Hits Tape (1996) was made to play the Rockfest, at a local church. They were denied and instead played a show in Jeff Rosenberg's backyard with members of Taking Back Sunday, Bomb the Music Industry!, The Matt Kurz One, and Sevenwiser. In 1997, Chris Baltrus joined playing bass and Joe Vazquez to play drums after Patric Santiago left the band because of a conflict with other members of the band wo broke into his house to get amplifiers. His parents were furious and forced him to quit. In 1998, Joe Vazquez was replaced with Bryan Cohen and ASOB records the Integrity Tape in Joe's garage. Dave Dickerman joined on trombone and Bryan Cohen left the band. They began playing places like Q-Zar, Scotty Dee's Coffee Shop, and an outdoor festival with Post-Emo Indie Rock innovators, Inside. John DeDomenici then stepped in on drums and the band began planning their first album. They payed $1000 for 12 songs. Mike Costa replaced John DeDomenici on drums. They recorded Built to Fail which was planned to be released by Zach and Breaking the Law Records, however, due to conflicts the band decided to self release it. In 1999, ASOB started branching out, playing shows with Channel 59, Sprout, Microwave Orphans, Who Cares, WCF, Edna's Goldfish, Catch 22, The Toasters, and Step Lively. Arty's Taxi's member, Eric Bucello who plays the trumpet, and subsequently joined the band. In August, the band recorded "Fuck You" for a Runaway Records compilation with the Jestrebzki Family. They also started work on their new full length, Pornocracy. By 2000, the band entered the studio and finished up in June. It featured JT from Sprout. Soon after, Chris Baltrus left the band for college and Joe Bove from Arty's Taxi joined. They played a CD release show with Racecar Breakup. In 2001 ASOB recorded "Built to Fail Motherfucker" for a compilation and began touring that summer. Many members quit and the remnants of ASOB played a show in upstate New York on a driving range with a new band featuring members of Shabooti. Joe Rosenstock stated to his girlfriend, "If this band ever gets big, I want you to kill me." The band ended up being Coheed and Cambria. Rosenstock began writing new material and was to open a show for Thursday, but it fell through. A new roster was drawn up that included Tim Ruggeri (Channel 59/WCF/Tall Hannds), Jon Rossman (Everyone Else), and Chris Taylor but this also fell through. Mike, Baltrus, Dave, and a few members of the High School Football Heroes and Premarital Sax play with ASOB. In 2002, ASOB tried to re-record Built to Fail unsuccessfuly. They recorded an Arrogant Sons of Bitches 7'' that was never released. They did a CD release show for All the Little Ones Are Rotting and played a battle of the bands at The Downtown winning fourth place. They landed a deal with Kill Normal Records. They also played a Halloween show and did ska covers of Taking Back Sunday songs. '' A year later, in 2003, ASOB re-released their EP with videos, a live set, and much more. They opened for Bowling for Soup and Count the Stars. They toured out to the west coast, and JT from Sprout joined full time. They played outside of the Idaho Warped Tour, and the next day played inside a hip-hop tent electrically. They stayed on Warped Tour and played to 3000 people in New York. Joe Werfelman was kicked out of the band. Three Cheers for Disappointment was finished being written and they recorded with AJ Quashee, but the recording didn't go well and was scrapped. Sean Qualls was auditioned on guitar. Joe Bove had a panic attack on stage and leaves bass, giving Sean the spot on bass. Afterwards, the band recorded some more and started working on releasing a "Complete Discography". The band later got on Streetlight Manifesto shows that feature Big D and the Kids Table. The band finally began recording Three Cheers for Disappointment at Moontower Studios in Boston, Massachusettes with Steve Foote. After it was finished, the band booked a tour, ordered merch, talked to record labels and replaced Sean Qualls with James Lynch on bass. The band took a break in September. In October, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches played two last shows at Mr. Beery's - one all ages, one 18+. Shortly afterwards, Jeff Rosenstock started Bomb the Music Industry!, Sean started Bashi-Bazouk, JT started his solo project, Mike Costa started his solo project and Dave registered to finally go to college. In 2005, they finish Three Cheers for Disappointment and in 2006, the band plays three shows in the Northeast in support of it. In 2007, they play their last show and officially break up. Members *Mike Costa (Drums) *John DeDominci (Bass) *Dave Dickerman (Trombone, Backup Vocals, Bells) *Sean Eldon Qualls (Guitar) *Jeff Rosenstock (Vocals, Guitar, Saxophone) *JT Turret (Keyboard, Vocals) Former Members *Chris Baltrus (Bass) *Joe Bove (Bass) *Joe Werfleman (Rhythm Guitar) *Steve Connolly (Trumpet, Vocal) Other Contributors *Chris Valentino (Saxophone) *Sean McCabe (Trombone) *Chris Candy (Trumpet) *James Lynch (Bass) Discography *The Arrogant Sons of Bitches Demo Tape (1996) *Built to Fail (1998, Self Released) *Pornocracy (2000, Self Released) *The Apology E.P. (2001, Self Released) *All The Little Ones Are Rotting EP (2002, Self Released; 2003, Re-Released on Killnormal Records) *The Arrogant Sons of Bitches (Compilation) (2004, Killnormal Records) *Three Cheers for Disappointment (2006, Killnormal Records) *This is What You Get (Quote Unquote Records) Category: Defunct Bands Category: Ska Bands Category: Punk Bands Category: Pop Punk Bands